Israel will mobilize thousands of reserve soldiers to reinforce its campaign against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the army announced on Saturday night, as the country seemed ready to expand its attack on the Palestinian enclave.
The call suggested that the Israeli government was preparing to shift tactics in an attempt to force Hamas to agree on its terms of ending war. It is not clear if this will prove to be successful, as Hamas has struggled a decisive uprising through more than a year of Israeli businesses in Gaza.
The Israeli Council of Ministers, chaired by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is expected to meet on Sunday to officially sign the enlargement of the Gaza campaign, said an Israeli official, who spoke on the condition that they did not speak.
The mobilization announcement has contributed to fears in Gaza, where Israel has prevented food, medical and other humanitarian aid from entry for more than two months. Starting from more than a year of hunger and battle, many are still displaced or live in the ruins of their homes.
After Israel ended a two -month cease with Hamas in mid -March, the Israeli forces reiterated the attack all over the enclave. But while Israel’s jets and drones have regularly bombed the gauze from the air, the Israeli soil forces have slowed their progress after the occupation of some territory.
More than 50,000 people were killed in Israel’s military campaign against Hamas in Gaza, according to Gaza officials. They do not distinguish warriors and citizens, but their conflicts include thousands of children.
The war began after Hamas led a surprise to an attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed about 1,200 people and saw about 250 returning to Gaza as hostages. Then, the Israeli leaders vowed to destroy Hamas in Gaza and release all the captives held there.
Despite more than a year of destructive war, Israel has not yet fully achieved one of these goals. Although Israel has managed to kill Hamas’ many leaders, Palestinian fighters have fought a persistent warfare of friction, new fighters have been hired in their cause and are believed to continue to keep up to 24 living hostages and the bodies of dozens of others.
Earlier in the war, Israeli troops swept through the enclave, leveled in Gaza cities and shifting hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. But they often returned to different areas, again and again, to deal with what they called a renewed presence of Hamas there.
International mediators, including Trump’s administration, tried to break a new ceasefire between Israel and Hamas to release hostages in return for Palestinians in Israeli prisons. But the two sides have defined seemingly contradictory conditions for an agreement.
Israel asked Hamas to determine its hands, which the team refused to do. Hamas, for her part, said she would no longer release the hostages until Israel is committed to an agreement that includes a complete end to the war and a complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
The invitation announcement also triggered a deeper anxiety between hostage families, who fear that the battles could kill their loved ones. They have sought to gather the Israelis to push the government to reach a new truce with Hamas.
Yotam Cohen, whose brother was abducted during the attack by Hamas, accused Mr Netanyahu of breaking the previous ceasefire before leading the country to a refreshed, avoidable war with Hamas. He called on an immediate agreement with Hamas to release his brother, who is still believed to be alive.
“Instead of bringing him home to an agreement, Netanyahu sends soldiers to a war that will kill him,” Mr Cohen told a rally on Saturday.
Mr Netanyahu suggested that attracting the rest of the hostages is less important than Hamas decides. In interviews and speeches, Mr Netanyahu has promised the Israeli State “absolute victory” for the team.
The liberation of prisoners was “an important goal,” Mr Netanyahu said on a address on Thursday. “But in the war there is a highest goal, and this defeats our enemies,” he added.
Israel’s soldier leans strongly in his backup team, many of whom have served for months – with some making multiple tours of duty – since the war began.
But these classes have seen simmering the disagreement against the behavior of war by the government. Last month, a group of reserve air forces and retired officers signed a public letter urging an agreement with Hamas to return hostages, even at the price of stopping war in Gaza.
